How to Use Scholastic’s My Big World in the Preschool Classroom

Last Updated on June 25, 2017 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: How to use Scholastic’s My Big World in the Preschool Classroom

We love to explore the world around us. I’ve mentioned many times how young children are more interested when what they are learning is connected to real life experiences. We read books and share our experiences during circle time. We have hands-on exploration and play during centers time that connect to these themes.

However, it can be a challenge to find literature and activities that are appropriate for our younger children.

Recently Scholastic contacted us to see if we’d be interested in reviewing their My Big World with Clifford. I’ve been using Scholastic for over 17 years, starting the first year I began teaching preschoolers. So of course I accepted!

Scholastic’s My Big World in the Preschool Classroom

A subscription to My Big World with Clifford includes 16 issues each school year, delivered in sets of 2 during the school year. Every issue is filled with simple text, big clear pictures, and easy to understand facts that young children can understand. There is also a big issue for the teacher that we used on our bulletin board.

We first read our magazines together at circle time, and then the children got to take their copies home. This gave them a chance to look at the magazine again, perhaps with their family.

Using My Big World with Clifford in the Classroom

The April edition of My Big World was all about taking care of plants.

You can grow plants. How would you take care of them?

I soaked some cotton balls in water and asked the children to come up, one at a time, to drop them into a jar.

We then placed some dried beans inside the jar, between the glass and the wet cotton balls.

We sealed the jar and examined what they looked like.

The next day we passed the jar around and noted how the beans had changed, comparing the beans to our model.

We could see that some of the beans had sprouted.

We did this for each day, noting how the beans were changing and growing. We would refer to the big Scholastic magazine that we had tacked on our bulletin board.

At the same time, we planted sunflowers. We looked at the photos in our classroom magazine to learn how to take care of our plants as they grew. There was even a sing-along in the magazine to go with the activity.

More about My Big World:

My Big World is suitable for preschool and pre-kindergarten children. You will get 18 issues that include an editorial calendar, online resources, skills & standards, and a section for Head Start educators.

You can read more about it here: Scholastic “Our Big World”

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Disclosure: Scholastic sent me a few sets of “Our Big World with Clifford” magazines to use in my preschool classroom. However, I’ve been ordering from Scholastic for over 17 years and love their reading club and resources!

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